Tag Archives: tobacco

Governor Now Has Opportunity to Speak up for Youth Brain Health

A group of six parents who spoke at a Moms Strong rally in Sacramento highlighted the egregious ways marijuana harms young brains. Their exposés shed light on how costly it has been to freely give out medical marijuana to 18-year-olds whose brains are still under development. The state legislature had a chance but failed to raise the age for smoking and ingesting medical marijuana to 21. Gov. Jerry Brown now has the opportunity to speak out once again against marijuana legalization, citing a need for taking brain health seriously.

Smoking cigarettes takes off from the end of life while using marijuana increases the risk of mental impairment in early life and increases the risk for suicide by 7x. A poster at the rally showed photos of seven people who died from suicide following psychotic breaks after ingesting or smoking marijuana.

NAMI and Science Provide the Facts

National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) states that marijuana is the substance of abuse recognized for a relationship to schizophrenia. NAMI’s webpage for schizophrenia states: “A growing body of evidence indicates that smoking marijuana increases the risk of psychotic incidents and the risk of ongoing psychotic experiences. The younger and more frequent the use, the greater the risk. Another study has found that smoking marijuana led to earlier onset of schizophrenia and often preceded the manifestation of the illness.”

California does not track medical marijuana users for psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, suicide or other negative mental health outcomes. In fact, the United States and individual states do not have tracking systems for psychosis and schizophrenia.

Canada and the American Society of Addiction Medicine insist that the age limit for “medical” marijuana should be 25 or over, after the brain has fully developed. The State legislature should consider health in early adulthood–when one is completing their education and getting that very first job — as important as end-of-life issues.

Tobacco Cigarettes Versus Marijuana Smoke or Edibles

When California raised the age for buying cigarettes to age 21, Citizens Against the Legalization of Marijuana (CALM) vigorously lobbied the state legislature and the governor to include “medical” marijuana (excluding CBD for seizures or for terminal cancer). It would have been logical to include another smoked product.

When the state banned vape pens and e-cigarettes for those under 21, it excluded medical marijuana. “If California gets a national reputation as being a little bit kooky, sometimes we have only ourselves to blame,” read an article in LA Weekly explaining the new law. It means there is no limit on teenagers vaping marijuana, including concentrated pot products like hash oil, wax and dabs.

Our lungs develop until age 18. When the age limit for buying tobacco products was set at 18, medical research had shown that lung damage could be mitigated by waiting until the lungs had fully developed before starting to smoke.

Our brains continue to develop until age 25, perhaps until age 28 or 29 for males. Therefore, a person who begins smoking or ingesting marijuana after age 25 experiences less brain damage and fewer negative consequences than those who begin below age 25. (While tobacco smoke has its greater influence on the health of our lungs, the THC of marijuana has the more influence on our brains than any other organ.)

Tom Steyer is Silent

Tom Steyer

Billionaire political donor Tom Steyer is currently running a TV advertisement in favor of raising the tax on cigarettes by $2, but remains silent about the environmental damage of marijuana and Proposition 64. Considering that he is an environmental activist and cares about lungs, his silence is on Proposition 64 is perplexing. It is completely fine to be against BIG TOBACCO, but it is not progressive enough to be against BIG MARIJUANA. The Dark Money behind Proposition 64 comes from George Soros, and from Silicon Valley billionaires. People give BIG MARIJUANA a pass because this greedy industry is promoting itself as quite glamorous.

Here’s news for Mr. Steyer and others: Big tobacco is investing in marijuana. However, Joe Camel is no longer cool or popular but marijuana is hyped as the next big investment.

When California allows doctors to recommend medical marijuana, there are no specifications for dosages. There’s no record-keeping. It can be given over the phone without even seeing the doctor, with a minimal fee.

CALM and Moms Strong, a coalition of drug prevention activists and those who have lost family members to marijuana abuse, demonstrated in front of the capitol on October 4, 2016. In a rousing series of speeches which ended when legislature member Jim Cooper arrived at 1:30, the activists told how their lives had been influenced and changed by marijuana. Jim Cooper is the Assistant Majority Leader in the state legislature and his district includes Sacramento. Maybe he can spread his knowledge to other legislature members.

By way of introduction, I was the first Director of the National Institute of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the United States’ principal agency devoted to scientific research on drugs of abuse, including marijuana. I am currently the President of the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc., a non-profit organization devoted to reducing illegal drug use, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine. I urge you to not underestimate the significant negative public health impacts of marijuana legalization.

In response to the discussion paper, Toward the Legalization, Regulation and Restriction of Access to Marijuana, I would like to share with you some important information specifically related to the discussion of the gateway theory. Marijuana is in fact a “gateway” drug – but importantly, it is not the only gateway drug. Alcohol and tobacco are also gateway drugs. By this I mean that their use is highly correlated with one another and nearly always precipitates the use of other substances. Recent analysis of data from the US National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) confirm that among young people aged 12 to 17, using one of these three primary drugs of abuse dramatically increases the likelihood of use of the other two, as well as use of other illicit drugs. Similarly, the decision not to use any of these three drugs is negatively correlated with use of the other two drugs (as well as other illicit drugs). This finding has significance for Canada and the US, as well as any other nation considering adding marijuana as a third legal drug for adults. More use of marijuana means more use of other drugs, including the two currently legal drugs. As such, given that the vast majority of substance use disorders, i.e., addiction, can be traced to initiation of substance use during adolescence, there must be significant focus on prevention.

Marijuana is not a harmless drug as it is often perceived to be today. In the US, marijuana accounts for more substance use disorders than any other drug (other than alcohol). Of the 7.1 million Americans aged 12 and older with substance use disorders related to illicit drugs, nearly 60% are dependent on or abuse marijuana (Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2015). The only drug that causes more substance use disorders than marijuana is alcohol.

Making marijuana more easily accessible and subsequently increasing its use by the public should be of serious concern to the Canadian government and its citizens. Recent research has shown that daily or near-daily marijuana users in the US consume most of the drug, with the poor and less-educated representing a disproportionate number of marijuana users (Davenport & Caulkins, 2016). Protecting the vulnerable populations – from youth to the disadvantaged – must be a national and global priority.

I urge you to support policies and programs that seek to reduce drug use, including marijuana use, and to improve public health. Making marijuana more accessible and its use more acceptable is not in the interest of public health.

Editors Note: The New York Times opinion series “Room for Debate” asked if marijuana should be legalized in the face of today’s heroin and opioid crisis and if it is a gateway drug. IBH President Robert L. DuPont, MD contributed to the series stating that marijuana use is positively correlated with other drug use; marijuana users consume more legal and illegal drugs than non-users. Rather than legalize drugs, effective prevention is needed. He clearly states that establishing marijuana “as a third legal drug, along with tobacco and alcohol, will increase drug abuse, including the expanding opioid epidemic.”

State Senator Hernandez is carrying a bill (SB 151) that will raise the age from 18 – 21 for age to purchase tobacco cigarettes. This is good, of course, but, interestingly, the bill does not include medical marijuana—-which is also smoked.

How can our legislatures say to kids they can’t smoke tobacco, but it’s ok if they smoke medical marihuana? New York is the most recent state to pass medical marijuana and it excludes smoking smoking marijuana for any age. Why does California Continue reading SB 151 Must Include Medical Marihuana→

Skunk Alert: Marijuana is Worse than Tobacco

Part 1 of a 9 part series

The long term effects of smoking tobacco lead to illnesses that claim 480,000 lives a year, so the harms of tobacco cannot be minimized. However, for all of the reasons cited above regarding brain damage and loss of IQ, impaired memory and motivation, mental illness, driver safely, depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, and myriad health problems, the short term harms are far worse and still have lasting impacts, like tobacco. What is worse, more teens are smoking marijuana today than tobacco, and in many cases concealing it by using e-cigarettes which don’t emit smoke or an odor. Random or suspicion-based drug testing can be used for early identification of a problem, and as a deterrent. Hair analysis in particular, with a 90-day window of detection, is highly recommended, albeit urine and saliva should be used as well. The intent is not to catch and punish, but to protect and keep kids in the system, safe and drug-free.